Facing a possible $800,000 legal bill, the man who brought a conflict charge against Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion says if he’s forced to pay her costs no one will ever dare try to hold politicians accountable.

“If the judge rules against me that would kill the (Municipal Conflict of Interest Act),” said Mississauga resident Elias Hazineh.

He lost his case against the mayor last month, after alleging her votes on an issue at Peel Region council in 2007 would have benefited her son’s development company.

McCallion has filed a submission to Superior Court seeking $394,529 for legal costs from Hazineh. His own costs are around $350,000 and the figures do not include HST.

“Nobody in their right mind would ever bring about charges against any politicians if the judge rules in her favour,” Hazineh said. “It’s counterintuitive to the intention of the MCIA.”

The act, which outlines conflict of interest rules for municipal politicians, states that if those rules have allegedly been broken, a private citizen may bring an application to the Superior Court.

In his submission, Hazineh’s lawyers argue he shouldn’t have to pay McCallion’s costs because the application was brought in the public interest and was not frivolous.

It also states, contrary to McCallion’s testimony, the judge found she knew her son’s role in his company and was “wilfully blind” about his Mississauga development project.

Awarding costs would deter ordinary taxpayers from bringing complaints forward in the public interest, the application says.

McCallion did not respond to a request for comment and her lawyers could not be reached.

Her application states that although costs were not granted to Toronto Mayor Rob Ford after winning his conflict case brought forward by Paul Magder (Ford wanted him to pay about $116,000 in legal costs plus HST) McCallion’s case was different in that there was no success by the applicant.

It also states there was no public interest because the judge found no reasonable elector would have perceived a conflict when McCallion voted to allow lower development charges for projects already in the pipeline.

Critics have argued the act must be changed to make the province responsible for bringing conflict charges forward against municipal politicians. That was a recommendations of the 2011 Mississauga Judicial Inquiry, which also probed McCallion’s role in pushing her son’s failed plan to build a $1.5-billion downtown hotel-convention centre.

She was found guilty by the inquiry of violating common law principles but was not in contravention of the act because of its narrow rules.

Hazineh’s application quotes the findings by inquiry commissioner Douglas Cunningham, who stated she had a “real conflict of interest.”

“I don’t think any individual should have to go through this type of experience for the public interest,” Hazineh said.